I am trying to get the upper seat cover off of my 2008 Accord. I know I should be removing the back of the seat first by removing the bottom half of http://www.hondaautomotiveparts.com/...ta0801_b40.png part #3 in this picture but i cannot figure out how to remove it. I have gotten the bottom elastic strap off but now I am looking at a piece of white plastic along the bottom of it and I cannot figure out how it is held on.

PA or anyone, do you have any direction ho how to get this off?

 

I posted on here, so it may help others.

I am not sure how to do it on your car. It may be similar to my 95.

On mine, I know that I can remove the back plastic panel that has the magazine holder. Then I could access the hooks to remove the upper seat cover. That panel would be #3 in that link that you posted.

 

That is the part I need to remove. It must be held on with some sort of screws or something. I just can't locate them...

 

This is gonna kill me if I can't get it off. Surely someone knows how to disconnect this seat back so the cover can be removed.

Are there any upholstery people out there? Also if you needed to replace the seat back heater maybe someone has access to some factory Honda directions on how to do this. Those directions would involve removing the seat cover. Does anyone have those?

 

There are no pdfs of the 03+ accords on the sites that have shop manuals.

If you go to the spooner link I posted in the online manuals thread in the DIY section, there is a shop manual for an acura TSX. It has instructions on how to disassemble the front seat. Since the TSX and accords are similar, that may help. Also, the 98-02 accord shop manual may have relevant information to your 08 accord.

 

I've got a 2003-2006 Helm book & I just looked...

On the picture you see how #3 is "L"-shaped & goes under the seat? None of the '03-'06 seats look like that. Only the panel on the back, not underneath.


I bet you'll have to find a 8th-gen Accord Helm book.

 

What I am planning to do is take it to the dealer today as it is still under warranty to have them look at the size of the lump in the drivers seat and see if they can reduce it. The passenger seat also has this active headrest feature (which creates the lump) but it doesn't have such a large protrusion and feels really nice. I doubt they will do anything but I want to give it a try because my back is hurting every day even with the lumbar support at its lowest setting. If the dealer can't do anything I want to try to modify it myself.

I love this car but this seat is giving me grief every day.

 

The dealer might be willing to copy a couple pages of the shop manual for dismantling the seat. My '03-'06 shop manual has all the gory detail about dismantling the seat - problem is it doesn't look like your 2008 seats.

If that lump comes from the active-head-restraint, then it sounds like it's not supposed to be like that. My 2005 Saabaru has that & there's no lump. So maybe something's not right. Compare with other cars at the dealer?

 

I went to the dealer yesterday and they did notice the difference between the drivers seat and the passenger seat with the drivers bump being more pronounced. He claimed to have another 2008 and said the seats felt the same. I then sat in a 2010 and it did not have the same amount of protrusion. He said that was because my car had 20,000 miles on it. I told him that in 20,000 miles the seat should not have degraded so that this happens. He agreed to then have me bring it back (because it was late in the day) next week and have the tech remove the back of the seat to take a look and see what he sees. If at that point, if deemed necessary, they would take it to an upholstery shop to investigate the seat foam to see if it has degraded to possibly replace it.

In my gut I feel that this is either going to result in a letter to Honda or me going to the upholstery shop and making a deal with the guy to let me remove the plastic plate that is causing me all this grief. I know that will render the active head restraint non functional but what else am I to do?

 

I've been thinking about this a lot over the weekend and I think if I can get the upholstery shop to open up the seat for me I can fabricate a new piece to replace the plastic headrest plate in the seat back. I am thinking of fabricating a piece of plate aluminum that will go in place of the stock plastic one but be curved and bowed back along the vertical centerline of the seat. This will in fact keep the active headrest working but remove a good amount of the lump. I could also probably use several seat belt type straps of nylon to bridge the gap between the two support arms.......if that is even how the original is constructed.

I am going to give Honda a go at it but I am pretty pessimistic about them coming up with a solution. I think once I determine where the upholstery shop is and if they will work with me, everything will become clear. I really hate this because every single other thing about this car is fantastic.